Category Archives: School Performance
Your Kids Can Be Bookworms and They’ll Love It
Summer vacation can be the perfect time to show your kids how much fun reading can be. When it’s too hot to play outside it’s a great time to stay inside and read. Shockingly, in 2011, only one in three fourth graders could read at grade level, according to The Nation’s Report Card for Reading…if that isn’t incentive for turning your kids into bookworms then I don’t know what is.
Judy Blume, who has been writing for kids, for many years, and who recently celebrated the 40th anniversary of Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, shared these tips with USA Weekend on turning your kids into bookworms.
Colleges are coming to elementary schools
University of Illinois, University of Michigan, University of Missouri, or University of California Davis might be some of the signs you see as you walk down the hall of No Excuses University at Los Pen. Formerly known as Los Penasquitos Elementary School, Los Pen in San Diego is part of the No Excuses University model being used in almost 90 schools.
Recess Eliminated – what?!?
In a New England school district morning recess has been eliminated for elementary students. The thinking went like this: test scores are poor, No Child Left Behind mandates are not being reached, therefore we will spend more time in our classrooms cramming knowledge into our students, the result will be increased test scores for all!
Community schools show promising results
Fully developed community schools in Tulsa, Oklahoma are doing some great things for students AND their families. A fully developed community school looks to “cultivate and sustain supportive conditions for learning” through “heroic leadership,” effective teachers, community and family engagement and holistic programs and services such as health clinics, early childhood development, mental-health social services and after-school tutoring and enrichment” according to Curt Adams as quoted in Education Week. Adams is an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Oklahoma.
Girls fare better than boys when it comes to reading
I just finished blogging that girls are performing better in math than what most people believe. That we should not believe the stereotypes that abound in education citing gender makes a difference in what subjects a child will excel. Now I read about a study that upholds the stereotype of girls being better readers – that girls are 1.5 years ahead of boys! Whoa!
What’s Behind the Gender Gap?
